On the Origin of Swirlix
by Shadaki
Summary: Pokémon come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and emerge for the same variety of reasons. Some come to be in order to fill empty niches. Others are mutants adapted to changing climates. In the case of Swirlix, the creation was due to sudden inspiration at a World's Fair.


_L'Exposition de Lumiose: A celebration of patriotism, art, culture, and past Kalosian achievements that promotes enthusiasm for the triumphs of tomorrow. Regions across the world were invited to showcase their regions' lifestyles and inventions. Thus came large numbers of the public – and not all were human. Attendees were wowed by films with sound, excited by demonstrations of the harnessing of the elements via technology, intrigued by designs from far off Johto for a tool to tame magical creatures, and much more. And yet the most significant event to occur at this exhibition went entirely unnoticed. It started at a cotton candy vendor._

Night fell, and the visitors had left. Which meant it was time for Louis to pack things up for the night. Business had been wonderful: interest in the new confection was so great that his stock of sugar for the day was almost gone. But not completely. Not evenly. There was still about eighty grams of the stuff left, almost filling a single ruined bag. (Louis had wanted the crazy Sinnoan to pay him for a new one after the latter had tripped over and ripped it, but seeing the lost look of utter bewilderment in his eyes, the emptiness of any cognition…) Almost. If there were more people coming, he could have sold it before it went bad. But leave it for tomorrow? Absolutely not. Frankly, he wasn't looking forward to awkwardly carrying it all the way home. What could be done with it? _'Oh please,' _ he thought to himself, '_please don't let it come to that.'_

"Gulp?"

Louis jumped in surprise before turning towards the voice. Standing in front of his stall was a small magical creature. A 'gloupti', he believed it was called. It wasn't going to eat him alive wasn't it? The creature looked up at him, then at the bag and then back at him.

"Gulp?"

Was it really asking for cotton candy? If it was a gloupti, it seemed unusually smart compared to the stories he had heard about them. Its seemed things would work out for both of them. Why not. He always wondered what magical creatures thought about human food. Thus, motivated by curiosity and a drive to be rid of the rest of his product, Louis got to work spinning up the largest instance of cotton candy he had ever created.

"Here, you go, Mon Amie," he said when it was finished, as he kneeled down to put the confectionary in front of the creature. The monster squirmed forward until it reached the massive bundle of cotton candy. The salesman blinked, and the magical creature and its food were gone.

How odd.

* * *

In the woods, west of Camphrier Town, the mythical Mew looked over its present. The immortal had watched humans of different ages smile as they received these things, and wanted to investigate for itself. It reached forward to rip out a clump of the hair-like sugar, only for some to begin sticking to its fur. A minute of exaggerated playing at pulling away later, it step-teleported back. That was fun, but not what it was trying to accomplish. How did humans eat this again?

Of course. This is for humans. That means there's a stick. (what the reason for the preoccupation humans had with using different kinds of sticks to eat was never something the common ancestor was entirely clear on. Though it did make some sense in this case.) And indeed there was. Mew reached out a forelimb to grab the stick, then thought better of it. The ancient giggled as it embedded its tail under the stick, and moved to turn the candy upright. Slowly the cotton candy was raised – precisely balanced upon the tip – into the air. HA! How many friends can do _this_? It would be much too easy to simply move it closer to eat from where it was towards its mouth. _No_. Mew had a much more enjoyable idea.

_' Just a bit of instability, and a little gyration…'_

Slowly, the elder kitten began to spin the food-stick system upon its tail in slowly wider inclinations.

_'Closer…Closer…' _

The top of the candy approached its head. Two more revolutions, before it would arrive in its mouth. And then it noticed. The stick was just the right shade of pink, and appeared to Mew as if it was the candy's tail. And the _height_ of the rotating system: Mew knew that height intimately, for the height was its own and many of its creations aw well. _Yes_. It could imagine the cotton candy come to life in its mind's eye. Small eyes, flat feet hidden within its fur, and other features besides. The psychic expanded its awareness outward to survey its surroundings – forest and road and nearby town. It viewed the species growing and scurrying and crawling and walking, the food they consumed, the weaknesses they possessed. _Yes, a niche exists. Yes, this could work._

But should it? The sugary treat looked _SO_ tasty. The small doubt was promptly discarded. Food versus new friends? It wasn't even a choice. The opportunity to bring a new species into being was so rare that every opportunity to do so was cherished. Mew looked at it again. _'Just one lick.'_ The Psychic sighed, then let out a large ghostly tongue. One Lick was enough. Enough to energize the hyperactive cat fetus. Enough to conjure up images of joining pods of such swirled sugar beings hunting down candy to aggressively lick (Swirl….Swirling? Swirl licks…Swirlicks…Swirlix!). Yes, it liked this idea already.

Thus did Mew conjure up a glamour of invisibility for itself and the candy, and begin to plan. It would take hours of sitting still, devising its type (_'Normal? No. Fairy'_), anatomy (_'...definitely needs everything to eat ALL the sugar: Like a tongue, but not a ghostly one…')_, abilities (_'…and it'll fill the air with lots and lots of sugar that'll keep everyone awake and…')_, and other such things. But this was the immortal's element, its raison d'être. And so there it floated, motionless; utterly content; secure in its place in the world.

'_Life,'_ Mew thought,_ 'is Wonderful.'_


End file.
